A Change In The Weather
by elphabaoftheopera
Summary: When Elphaba finds herself stranded in the Shiz library after hours during a thunderstorm, at least she has someone to keep her company. Whether she wants it or not. Implied Fiyeraba. Fiyero POV. One-shot.


**A Change In The Weather**

I didn't mean to follow her into the library, really, I didn't. In fact, the library was the last place I _ever_ wanted to go. But there wasn't anything else to do and she was easy to spot, so the next thing I knew I was following her into the library for reasons unknown. When Elphaba worked she was like…a robot. A machine. Nothing in the outside world existed when she was working on something. Or when she was reading…Oz she sure did _read_ a lot. It wouldn't be surprising at all if she read through every last book in this library. When Elphaba worked, she didn't notice anything.

Which is why she didn't notice me watching her…and why she didn't notice that the library had closed over half an hour ago. Then again, I hadn't noticed either, except _I_ was concentrating on something other than _work_. How long had she been in here? How long had _I_ been in here?

I had settled myself a few tables away from her, hidden behind a stack of random books. I didn't know what subject they were on, but I needed to not look suspicious. It wasn't _creepy_ that I was watching her, I just liked to _watch_ her—alright it was a little creepy. What she didn't know wouldn't hurt her. At least that's what I decided while trying to convince myself I wasn't a stalker.

She always just seemed so fully _engrossed_ in her projects, weirdly so. Not bad weird, but weird nevertheless. I couldn't help but wonder what it'd be like to see her that engrossed and that interested in a _conversation_. Maybe a conversation with me. I wanted to see her laugh, _really_ laugh, but not as much as I wanted to make her laugh. It was like an obsession of mine, a trophy I had to have. Earning a laugh from Elphaba seemed very difficult.

I looked down at the text book in front of me with a sigh and I tried to read the text with difficulty, squinting at it. It was upside down. As I was trying to figure out which way the book went there was a crash of thunder, causing me to jump. I peered over, noticing that Elphaba's legendary concentration had finally been broken. She looked to the window, clearly disoriented. I felt a surge of panic and put my head down on the desk, pretending to be asleep.

I heard her chair screech along the wood floor, the sudden rain now loud and clear. By the sound of it, it seemed like she was beginning to walk away. I peeked through my hands and froze when I caught sight of a pair of harsh brown eyes staring down at me through my fingers. Thinking of a brilliant plan quickly I yawned and stretched out my arms, pretending to just wake up.

"Mmm…wow…I must have fallen asleep—oh! _Elphaba_?" I rubbed my eyes. "What are _you_ doing here?"

"Fiyero. Do you have _any_ idea what time it is?" she said pointedly. "It's _well_ past eleven o'clock."

I sat up a little straighter, rubbing the back of my neck. "I could ask you the same question," I said reasonably with a shrug. "I fell asleep, what can I say?"

She scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Of course you were. _Sleeping_. I didn't even notice you were here."

"Well isn't that flattering?" I smirked. I stood up, pleased that she had fallen for my little trick. Brilliant.

"Yes…well…you should be going," she said, gesturing to me. I frowned.

"Who are _you_ to tell me what to do?" I crossed my arms childishly.

"The library closed over half an hour ago."

"I don't see you leaving."

"Yes well I just have to-"

"Look it's late, our buildings are right next to each other, why don't we just head back together, hm? Buddy system. Safer that way," I teased.

"No, you go on ahead I have to-"

" _The library closed over half an hour ago,"_ I mimicked her words from a minute ago. She glared at me. "We've got to get out of here or all sorts of people are going to come after us…we'll be put in the Southstairs! Oh come on Elphaba, I'm not going to bite."

She bit her lip and neither of us said anything until another rumble of thunder echoed through the hall. I noticed something, it was subtle and I almost missed it, but I noticed her flinch just for a moment before quickly composing herself.

"You go ahead, I'll catch up with you!" she offered, almost nervously. I furrowed my brow and examined her face for a moment. I caught a glimpse of her eyes darting towards the large, rain splattered window.

"What's up with you? I'm just offering to-"

"It's nothing," she interrupted quickly, shaking her head. "Look I'm just…going to hang back for a few minutes."

"Did I do something that made you-"

"Fiyero-"

" _But the buddy_ _system_ -"

"Go-"

"I mean you don't want to walk alone at night in the rain-"

"It's the storm, _okay_!?" she blurted out loudly.

I pursed my lips and looked at her with a puzzled expression. She made a frustrated sound and ran a hand through her hair.

"Just—go ahead. I'll look after myself."

"Elphaba it's just a little rain…here I've got an umbrella we can share. Or I'll even just give it to you if that's important. It's not too far of a walk-" I reasoned. I tried to understand her reaction to this. I've always kind of liked storms, I wasn't particularly keen on walking outside during one, but they weren't that bad.

"I meant to get home before the rain started and now I'm just going to wait here until it passes, _okay_? Go, it's fine," she made a shooing movement with her hand. In the dim light of the lamp glow her face seemed to be almost a deeper shade of green.

"Elphaba, are you afraid of storms?" I said slowly. I didn't think she was afraid of _anything_! Especially not something as harmless as a storm.

She gave me a bitter look and hopped up to sit on a nearby table.

"You don't understand the meaning of _go_ ," she repeated for the millionth time. "Go, Verb. To move from one place to another; travel. To leave; depart. _Depart_!"

"You know there's nothing to be afraid of-"

"Oz Fiyero I'm not an idiot please don't treat me like one!" she snapped, turning her head my way and giving me a hard look. "I just don't like storms. It's not only that I'm quote unquote _afraid_ of them. It's…a little more complicated," she explained impatiently. She looked down at her lap, wringing her hands nervously. The thunder crashed again and she seemed to shift in her seat uncomfortably. I watched her, and suddenly felt bad for possibly being insensitive. Whatever it was, it really seemed to bother her.

"You can't stay in the library all night," I reasoned stubbornly.

"No, _you_ can't stay in the library all night," she scoffed. "I, on the other hand, don't have much of a choice."

I hopped up on the other table and sat on the edge. I wasn't about to leave her alone if she was that uncomfortable with the weather. Call it chivalry, call it curiosity, call it whatever you wanted. I wasn't leaving until she did. "I'm not leaving here without you."

She rolled her eyes and looked over at me. "It's not just that I don't want to go out in the rain…I _can't_."

"Of course you can-"

"Oz dammit Fiyero you wanted me to spell it out for you, I'm explaining it so just be quiet, huh?" she blurted out. I pursed my lips and nodded, allowing her to continue.

"I can't go out in the rain. I… _physically_ cannot."

I considered this for a moment before sighing. "I don't understand."

"Well that's your problem," she countered.

"You can't go out in the rain…you _can't_ —well _alright_ then. We'll just wait around in here I suppose. Hey what's the point of closing hours if the librarians don't even check that everyone is gone?" I began to ramble, just making conversation.

"Fiyero."

"What?"

"What are you doing?"

"Elphaba, you told me that you are not only afraid of the storm you for some _mysterious_ reason of yours cannot go out in the rain," I wiggled my fingers to highlight the mystique. "Do you really think I'm just going to leave you alone in this dark, dusty library all night? Who knows how long the storm is going to last?"

She looked over at me with an unreadable expression. What was she thinking? What was she _ever_ thinking?

"I don't understand," she finally said quietly.

"Well that's _your_ problem," I shrugged. I picked up one of the books that were from my pile and examined it. _Fashion of Munchkinland_. I didn't remember picking that one up. I wasn't aware that Munchkins had fashion at all.

"It's going to be a long night," she muttered under her breath. I looked up at her, seeing that she had her face turned away from me. Her hands gripped the edge of the table tightly and she was taking large, deep breaths.

"You know…" I started. "I'm terrified of fire."

She turned her head and looked at me. "Fire?"

"Yeah. Like sometimes it's so bad I freak out around fireplaces. It just makes me uncomfortable. Yet another reason I never intend on learning how to cook."

"Yeah well don't you have like fifty servants for that?" she raised an eyebrow.

"Well…touché," I shrugged. She was quiet for a while, folding her hands in her lap. She had such graceful movements in an odd way. Fluid like.

" _I_ can cook," she finally said.

"Yeah?" I looked up.

"Yeah. I'm pretty good at it too," she smirked. I found myself grinning.

"You shouldn't have told me that," I mentioned.

"Why's that?"

"Because now I'm going to be pestering you all day and all night to bake me something. Anything besides that shit in the dining hall," I shuddered.

"Oh you poor privileged prince," she mocked me. "So fire. Why are you afraid of fire?"

"Um, hello? Fire can burn you alive."

"Cheerful."

"Yeah well it never seemed like a pleasant thing to me."

"You know most people die from _smoke_ inhalation, not the actual _fire_."

"Well that doesn't sound really great either!" I complained. I decided to make it my goal to make her smile as much as possible. Which was strange because of how morbid this topic was. Fire and death and suffocation. "I don't really have a reason. Why are you afraid of storms?"

"I _have_ my reasons," she mumbled cryptically, looking down again.

 _Shoot_. I hated when she went into that shell of hers.

"You can go any time," she reminded me bitterly. "I don't mind being alone."

I groaned in frustration. "You're always so skittish around me, and I'm just trying to be nice. Every time I try to _sit_ with you, you open a book. Every time I try to _talk_ to you, you give me the shortest answer possible. What did I ever _do_ to you?"

She paused for a moment. "You didn't _do_ anything to me," she muttered, clearly flustered but agitated. "I'm not your _charity_ case! Stop just trying to be nice. I don't need your pity or anything of the sort and it'd just be best if you left me alone, okay?!"

"Elphaba!" I sighed in frustration. I hopped off the table and took a few steps her way. "I'm not _pitying_ you—look I just want to get to know you better but you keep-"

"Why?! Why do you want to get to know me better!?"

"Oz is that a _crime_!? But maybe if you don't want the company I'll leave, maybe I'll just go. You're always whining everyone hates me _everyone hates me_ ," I mocked, using a whining voice. "Yet here I am trying to _talk_ to you and you just _snarl_ at me. Okay you clearly just want to be _alone_ , right? Isn't that what you want to be?"

I knew I was probably being a little too harsh, but Oz was she an _infuriating_ woman! One moment she'll actually talk to me and the other she's biting my head off. She was exhausting, sometimes I felt like it wasn't even worth it. I gave her a frustrated look before heading towards the door, another crash of thunder shaking the library. Out of the corner of my eye I could see her jump, crossing her arms around herself.

"Wait-" she said quickly. "Wait…"

I stopped and turned around. She looked at me with a sort of defeated look, almost vulnerable. If you could ever call Elphaba vulnerable in any manner. It was certainly the closest she's come.

"I'm…allergic to water," she said carefully, her eyes not leaving mine. "It…affects me. It hurts me, my skin—just…"

I stared at her, trying to decipher what she was trying to say.

"You're what?"

She ran a hand through her hair and bit her lip again. I had never seen her so uncomfortable.

"Allergic to water. I physically cannot leave this place until the rain stops and—look I'm sorry I yelled out you. I'm just a little tense right now? No one knows…well almost no one. Nessarose knows and I told Galinda because we're roommates but—it's not a _normal_ thing. I _cannot_ get wet."

She had clearly just admitted something very deep and personal to me, which in a way excited me. Maybe that was a bit selfish, that it excited me. Now I understood why this storm was so unsettling to her, to me it was just a storm but to her it was a potential _danger_. I had never heard of anything so strange, I would have thought it was a made up story if not for the look of fear in her eyes.

"Promise that you…won't _tell_ anyone…" she mumbled. "Please…"

"I promise, I won't tell anyone," I murmured. "And you know what? I always thought it'd be fun to spend all night somewhere after hours. Even though I never pictured it being a library…" I shrugged with a lopsided smile on my face.

Her shoulders relaxed and I could see the faint ghost of a smirk on her face.

"What's wrong with the library?" she shrugged, crossing her arms.

"Right now? Nothing is wrong with the library." She looked at me for a long moment before sighing. "Thank you," she murmured.

"Except for the ghosts," I added. "Yep…this place is probably just…" I gave a whistle and shook my head. " _Ripe_ with ghosts."

"Ghosts don't exist," she said with a scoff. I gave her a very serious stare and looked behind me as if I felt like something was watching us. "That's what they _want_ you to think," I whispered back to her. Oddly enough, a ghost of a smile appeared on her face.

"So…allergic to water, huh? That's a new one," I grinned.

She crossed her arms and shrugged again. "I know it's a little-" she began.

"Badass," I filled in for her conversationally.

"Excuse me?" she raised her eyebrows.

"Like you go day to day _dodging_ water and keeping it a secret from _everyone_. It's like you're living a double _life_ , I mean I couldn't do it," I said again, shaking my head and ruffling my hair.

"Well I…that's a _new_ one," she allowed. "That's…definitely a new one."

Then she laughed. _Just_ for a moment, but she _did_! Maybe this night wouldn't be so bad after all.

"Come with me," I said after a moment.

"Where?"

"Oz Elphaba just come with me. You know how the library has the free coffee and food in the mornings?"

"Fiyero those aren't _free_ -"

"Well they've got to keep them around here somewhere!" I grabbed her hand and dragged her along with me. We went through the several shelves of books towards the reception desk. I released her hand without glancing back and climbed over the desk. I had a bit of messy landing on the other side, my foot ending up in the mini trashcan, but I brushed myself off.

"I'm okay, I'm okay," I assured her. She covered her mouth with her hand and let out a small laugh, causing my heart to leap. Two laughs. Two points. "Wait here."

I walked to the door behind the reception desk, thinking they must be stored back there, only to find it locked.

"Damn…" I muttered under my breath. "It's locked."

"Fiyero this is _stealing_ , the library _pays_ for that we can't just take it what if we get in trouble?" she scolded me.

I leaned over the counter and looked at her.

"Come on Elphaba, if you can say the worst thing you've ever done is take some of the free coffee from the library after hours I think you're in _pretty_ good shape."

"You _do_ know you have to pay for it-"

"I wonder if there's a key…"

"Fiyero…"

"Come on Elphaba live a little! You spend more time in here than anyone on campus, they _owe_ you," I reasoned. She glanced at the door for a moment as if she was deep in thought about something before she snapped her fingers. I turned my head when I heard the lock click open.

"How did you-"

"Go get our coffee," she shooed me away with a smirk. She was _full_ of surprises.

I managed to find where they kept all of the coffee grounds as well as the coffee pot which I brought out to the desk, setting it up.

"I thought you said you didn't cook at all," Elphaba pointed out.

"You think coffee is _cooking_? Elphaba, it's necessary for _survival_ of course I know how to brew coffee."

"Last time I checked _food_ was _also_ necessary for survival," she pointed out.

"And last I checked so was _water_ but you somehow—sorry," I said, noticing the look on her face.

"It's fine," she rolled her eyes, looking down at her hands.

"So…how long has it been like that? I mean…I've just never heard of anyone else with it."

"Neither have I. It was just something I was born with, just like the green. Another _joy_ to being me," she scoffed bitterly.

"You know…" I started. "I really don't mind the green."

"You liar."

"I mean it! I mean, it's interesting. Unique, you know?"

"So my skin is interesting and my water affliction is badass, what has gotten _into_ you?"

I smirked pouring myself a cup of coffee and holding back laughter.

"What?" she muttered.

"I've never heard you swear before."

"What? I _swear_. I mean…I swear _all_ the time."

" _Okay_ Elphaba. How do you take your coffee?"

"Black."

"Seriously? That's _disgusting_."

"Hey I don't knock _your_ life choices. Only wimps need all of that creamer and sugar _crap_ ," she scoffed.

"Alright I'm coming back over," I warned her.

"Don't hurt yourself," she muttered, getting out of the way. I took a moment to prepare before I slid over the counter secret agent style and landed on my feet. Perhaps not too gracefully, but that didn't stop me from adding a flourish with my arms to complete it. Elphaba laughed again. For a _third_ time.

I took my cup of coffee off of the reception desk and took a sip from it, glancing at her. She sipped at hers, glancing around the space as she leaned against a table.

"So you swear all the _time_?" I asked her casually, teasing her a little bit. "Miss Thropp has a sailor mouth?"

She rolled her eyes so dramatically it was comical. "Why are _you_ so _surprised_?"

"Prove it. Say a bad word. I dare you."

"You're an idiot."

"I don't think that counts, Elphaba. Just say one thing. I know…tell me to fuck off."

"What?"

"Just tell me to fuck off! I won't mind! You have to admit, you've kind of wanted to all night."

She stared at me for a minute, as if she were weighing her options or summoning the courage. She cleared her throat and wet her lips before she offered me Oz's least convincing and quietest… "Fuck off, Fiyero."

I roared with laughter. "Oz that was _weak_ , Thropp! You have to give it a little attitude! You swear all the _time_ after all!"

"This is a _library_ , it's sacred ground!" she said defensively, although she was giving an embarrassed smile.

"No one is here to hear you! Come on, give me the worst."

"Fuck off, Fiyero," she said a little louder, placing her cup aside.

"Louder!"

"Fuck _off_ , Fiyero!"

"Louder!"

"FUCK OFF, FIYERO!" she yelled so loud that it echoed through the halls. She immediately slammed her hands over her mouth and gasped, as if surprised by the tenacity of her own voice.

I stared at her with a huge, proud grin and shook my head. "Oz, Elphaba. They probably heard that in the Scalps. Don't you know you're supposed to be quiet in a library?"

"You _asshole_!" she burst out laughing. Somehow, I figured I created a monster. "I can't believe I just swore in a _library_ ," she laughed wistfully, taking her cup back into her hands.

"You just swore in a library," I affirmed. "I'll toast to that."

We touched our cups together and lapsed into a silence. She just sat there, leaning against the table, her slender green finger absent mindedly tapping the side. What was she thinking? She was always thinking something. I couldn't imagine thinking that much. And she seemed to _enjoy_ it too. Her mind was so complex, I could simply tell by looking at her. How her eyebrows would crease or her nose would twitch or her eyes would light up or darken. Elphaba, for all intents and purpose, was an open book. I wondered, did she ever tire of it all? Did she ever relax? Did she even know how?

Elphaba seemed to be in constant battle. Everything was a challenge. Every time she was provoked, she engaged. She never sat one out. Didn't that get exhausting? She really didn't know how to pick her battles. She was always right there with a snarky remark or at the very least an eye roll. I couldn't count the times she had snarled at people in class for their snide remarks. She was ruthless, she didn't let anything go, and something told me she never forgot either. Elphaba holding a grudge on your forever. That was a concept that was enough to send shivers up your spine. This woman was not to be crossed. Nothing bothered her. And yet, everything bothered her.

"What?" her voice snapped me out of my reverie and I realized I had been staring at her. I had been so deep in thought I hadn't noticed. Deep in thought. Me, deep in thought. Just by being near her. That was certainly a first. It seemed that she was rubbing off on me, filling my head with idea. Contemplations. Complex _ideas_. Things I used to loathe. I couldn't remember the last time I had been so engrossed in a train of thought.

I went over to her, leaning against the same table and sipping from my coffee.

"Let me ask you something," I started.

"Alright I'll allow it," she snorted.

"Why do you care some much?" I asked her. Why did she care so much?

"About what?"

"About what? About…Oz… _everything_ , Elphaba. Is there any damn thing you don't give a shit about?"

"You're certainly overzealous with the language tonight, Fiyero," she muttered.

"You're avoiding my question again!" I pointed out. "Why do you _care_ so much? Why do you give such a damn about _everything_? I have never met anyone that cares—even _half_ as much as you do. About _anything_. You care about books, you care about learning, you care about justice. You care about Animal rights, you care about your sister, and you care about what other people think about you. You care when people poke fun at you and you fight every time, you've never just let it go. You're so… _passionate_. Almost _scarily_ passionate. I just—I would get so _exhausted_ all the time. Haven't you ever wanted to just say f _uck it_ and stop being so… _intense_ all the time?" I asked her.

It was perplexing! It was maddening almost, how much she _cared_. How much she _complained_. How often she _yelled_ and _fought_ for the things she believed in.

She looked pensive again. For a moment I thought she'd deny my claims, try to deny that she was all of the things I said, but I knew she couldn't. I knew I was right.

"Well…" she started, her mind still calculating. No doubt searching for the right answer. "It's better this way," she said slowly, staring ahead as if she were telling herself this. As if I weren't even there.

"It'd be easier if I didn't care, if I wasn't like this. Oz, I know how much easier my life would be if I didn't. If I just let things go. If I let people do or say things that I didn't believe were _right_. And if I have to _fight_ to be heard, then I'm going to fight. If I see something that's unjust or unfair, I'm going to _say_ something. I couldn't live with myself if I didn't. And people saying things about me? I don't care what they think, I know I can't change their mind. But I still call them out, not because they're going to change, but because I deserve to. At least I'm feeling… _something_. In my experiences, the minute I go numb, the very clock tick I stop _caring_ , is the minute I have lost. As frustrating as it is, as infuriating, as _painful_ as it is to care this much, it's better. I would rather feel everything…than feel nothing. That's it. I would rather feel _everything_ than feel nothing at all," she spoke.

There wasn't anyone like Elphaba Thropp. Oz, there wasn't anyone even in the same ranks. She was her own category, her own species even. No one was on the same level of passion, intelligence, and strength. I was left dumbfounded and confused. Everything she said was the exact opposite of how I had lived my life. I preached about _not_ caring, not trying at the risk of failure, about skidding by, about wasting so much time. Now, she had me _rethinking_ everything. She tried every day of her life, and if she failed, she tried harder. She didn't give up, she didn't even miss a beat. Who did that? Who did that so courageously without even a second thought? I had never put in any effort, and after one conversation with this girl about how she lived her life, I was rethinking everything. No, forget rethinking. _Thinking_. She had me _thinking_. For once. I had a horrible stomachache and a wild sense of uncertainty. My heart was pounding. I felt energized, I felt anxious, and I felt invigorated. I felt scared.

Was this how she felt all the time? Was this what it felt like to care about something?

Was this what it felt like to care about _someone_?

"Fiyero you keep spacing out," Elphaba sighed. Her lips were pressed into a line, but her eyes seemed gentle. For some reason, even when she was all flared up, a touch of gentleness could be found in her eyes. But no one ever bothered to look for it.

"Well…" I cleared my throat, snapping out of it and composing myself. I could still feel the blood coursing through my veins, as if recovering from whatever spell she put on me. "You and I have very different world views, milady. I'm glad you care enough for the both of us, it makes it easier for me to not give a damn about anything," I smirked charmingly. Did I always sound this much like a douchebag? " _You're_ happier caring, and _I'm_ happier _not_ caring," I shrugged, looking down at my cup.

She didn't respond right away. That was something I noticed, she took her time. Sometimes she was a firecracker, yelling without abandon, never letting anyone get a word in edgewise. But sometimes she took her time, carefully planned her words, and delivered them so beautifully that it seemed like poetry. This time, she took her time. But she only uttered one tiny phrase.

"I don't believe that," she whispered. All of the briars had been removed from her voice, they were soft and delicate words. But at the same time, almost gently scolding.

I looked to her and met her eyes. And for a moment, I was about to back out. She was too close, too wise. She knew too much. She was too smart. She'd find out all of my secrets. She'd call me out on my bullshit lies. I couldn't deal with that.

Yet, in that moment, when she really saw me, I felt relief. Someone saw me. Someone saw right through me. _Finally_.

My eyes were on hers, and then they glanced to her lips. It was all so hazy, for a minute I convinced myself it hadn't happened at all. I met eyes with her and found myself leaning in slowly, her eyes flicked down to my lips to, and there was no way to know for sure but I was almost positive she was leaning in too.

Thunder rattled the library and we quickly straightened back up, her head immediately turning to the window. She was in rare form, I had never seen this girl frightened. She looked younger when she was scared. My eyes were still locked on her, my thudding against my ribs so violently it hurt, my throat going dry. Damn storm.

I took my empty cup and hers and moved to throw them away, taking a moment to take a breath. It was past midnight. I was in it for the long haul, I certainly wasn't going to leave her in the library alone.

"I think we're both ignoring something really obvious here," I told her, turning around. For a moment, I saw her eyes widen nervously.

"What do you mean?" she cleared her throat.

I took a few steps forward so I was closer to her, my eyes locked with hers.

"Elphaba…" I said quietly. "There are dozens of empty tables and chairs in this library…and we haven't built a fort yet."

She released a quick breath and then gave me a non-committal glare. I grinned at her, amused by her reaction. She seemed to have been quite flustered but snapped out of it.

She stepped away from the table and pressed a finger into my chest, as if she was about to scold me or beat me or something. "As long as we put everything back the way it was," she muttered.

I grinned sheepishly and nodded towards the tables. Maybe she _was_ capable of having fun. The library had a large section of square wooden tables for students to work at. For the next half hour we spent time pushing them together, turning them upside down or on their sides, and placing chairs strategically, until we had a rather impressive fort.

"What would someone think if they found _this_ here," Elphaba said, gesturing to the mass of chairs and tables.

"You're having quite the night, Thropp. You stayed past the library hours, yelled obscenities, and vandalized their furniture. You're a bad influence."

She reached over and shoved me a bit, fighting off a smile. "The second this storm is through I'm ditching your sorry ass," she promised. I grinned at her playfulness. Who knew she could be such fun?

"Well come on, we built it are we just going to look at it?"

For the next several hours we hid out in the fort, sitting cross legged under a table. I would tell jokes, try to make her smile, and she would occasionally read things to me out of her books. I hated the content of the books, they were horribly boring, but there was something nice about the way she spoke them. She told me things about herself too. She liked poetry and piano music. She enjoyed astronomy. I even found out her middle name, which I hadn't realized I didn't already know.

By four o'clock in the morning we had resorted to thumb wrestling as we talked, which she was surprisingly good at. She asked me questions about my life in the Vinkus, and I was actually surprised at how interested she seemed. The Vinkus was about as different from Munchkinland as possible. She didn't open up completely, occasionally she would scoff or snap at me or dodge a question I posed, but this was the most relaxed I had ever seen her. It was refreshing. Elphaba Melena Thropp was so refreshing.

"Do you hear that?"

"Hm?" I said in an uninterested tone as I pinned her thumb down.

"I think the rain stopped."

Strangely enough, I felt my heart sink heavily. Oh. Right. The rain. Suddenly I she was crawling out of the crude table fort we had built and peered out the darkened window.

"It still looks a bit wet but I think it has definitely stopped," she reported.

I crawled out from under the fort too, hitting my head in the process. "Well…maybe I should walk you home then?" I offered, rubbing the back of my head.

"You don't have to walk me home," she rolled her eyes, already beginning to place tables back in their appropriate spots. I couldn't help but wonder if Miss Sorcery Seminar had a spell to put them all back at once, but I decided not to ask her. Instead I helped her reorganize the room.

"Are you kidding? We just spent hours stuck in a library together and you aren't going to let me walk you to your damn room? What if the library ghosts follow you? You're probably on their list, you know."

She groaned and rolled her eyes again, setting a chair into place and putting her hands on her hips.

"Come on, Thropp. Buddy system."

"Okay. Buddy system," she agreed begrudgingly. "But only because you have an umbrella."

It was all fairly unceremonious. We finished placing everything in order and left the building. She seemed cautious stepping into the open air. It had to be an hour or two until dawn. I was anxious to get her home, only because I feared the rain might start at any minute. I wondered if she ever stayed up this late. Or if she'd ever do it again.

We chatted a bit as I walked her to her room about nothing in particular, and too quickly we were at her door.

"I'll have to be careful not to wake my roommate," she rolled her eyes. I imagined Galinda wouldn't appreciate that. "Alright well…thanks buddy," she said sarcastically, giving me a light punch on the shoulder.

I smirked and ruffled my hair, nodding. "Yeah, anytime. Happy to help."

Elphaba smirked for a moment and hung back, apparently hesitating before leaving me.

"There are a lot of things I could say to you right now, thanking you for staying with me in the library and walking me home, but I'm going to skip it all. Let me ask you something," she said after a moment, speaking in a hushed tone.

"Alright I'll allow it," I shrugged, putting my hands in my pockets.

"Why were you in the library tonight?" she asked slowly.

I raised my eyebrows and shrugged nonchalantly. "Brushing up on my _History of Munchkin Fashion_ books…" I said sarcastically with a dumb, cocky smirk.

She stared at me for a good, long, terrifying moment. Sometimes it felt like her eyes were probing me. Staking me out for information. Turning me inside out to find the truth that I obviously wouldn't verbalize to her.

"I don't believe that," she said for a second time tonight. I felt my heart drop into my stomach again at the look she was giving me, and I absolutely couldn't read it. I waited, wondering if she was going to say more. But instead, she merely offered me a faint ghost of a smirk and unlocked her door.

"Goodnight, Fiyero," she murmured before disappearing into her dark room and quietly closing the door behind her.

I stared at the wood of the door, trying to figure out what just happened. Not just in the past few minutes, but the entire night. The moment she left it was like a spell had been lifted, and I felt weird and oddly sick. I decided to leave my umbrella for her, leaning it against the wall just in case she ever needed it, and I started off down the hallway deep in thought again.

One thought won over all of the other conflicting feelings now battling for dominance.

 _I was so damn happy for this change in the weather._


End file.
